3556 - The Lazy Lion


Do you use filters? I don’t. Of course I’ve done it in the past, and in the beginning I even used “protection filters” on all my lenses.

No more. I’ve spent a fortune on such protection, certainly more than the worth of a few lenses, and in the few cases a lens fell, normally I got away with scratches and maybe a damaged lens shade. One lens took some damage that made manual focus sound like the lens were broken (though AF still worked silently and flawlessly) and in one case the plastic lens barrel broke. None of this would have been prevented by a “protective filter”.

It’s different with polarizers and ND filters. I appreciate their value, I know when and how to use them - and I still don’t do it. Too much hassle. Take this image. I needed f2.8 (the widest my Olympus 60 mm macro goes) for some background blur, but on that bright day I was already at 1/8000 s and ISO 160. I was lucky. A little more light and I would have needed an ND filter or a polarizer. I think I don’t have one for the 60/2.8, and if I had had one, I most likely wouldn’t have had it with me on that day trip.